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Lemni Skate
04-11-2010, 21:38
I really started section hiking the AT about 2 and a half years ago and for most of that time I have been depressed 'cause I can't thru-hike, but I wanted to count my blessings and list some good things about section hiking. Please join in with any additions:

1. If I had thru-hiked it'd be done and I still wouldn't be excited about getting to see the Whites, and Grayson Highlands and... well all the stuff I haven't seen.
2. I keep getting to adjust what's in my pack. The weight just keeps coming down.
3. My kids will hike with me for 5 days at a time, not 180.
4. My wife will hike with me for 2 days at a time, not 180.
5. I can choose to do sections downhill or uphill, which ever my stamina and knees seem to think will be easier that weekend.
6. I get to meet more thru hikers this way.
7. I can pick a new trail name every year.

Bags4266
04-11-2010, 21:41
8. I can keep my job and maintain my life.

Cookerhiker
04-11-2010, 21:55
9. You can pick the best time of year for each section and avoid the worst. For example, you can hike NJ & NY in April or May or October as opposed to the heat of mid-summer when the thrus hit those states.

Tin Man
04-11-2010, 22:28
10. after accumulating some hundreds of miles, you eventually realize that section-hiking a little each year and seeing some of the blue blazes is a lot more fun than spending 180 grinding out white blaze miles day after day after day.

Trailweaver
04-12-2010, 00:38
11. You don't have to put your car in storage.
12. Your dog won't forget who you are.

1azarus
04-12-2010, 06:58
13. You stay in shape year round because the next hike is just a few weeks away.
14. You keep dreaming you're sleeping outside somewhere.

bigcranky
04-12-2010, 07:13
15. You can section hike over many years, and still thru-hike once you retire.

WalkingStick75
04-12-2010, 07:23
16. I have met more people over the years of section hiking than one year of a thru.

Hikes in Rain
04-12-2010, 08:13
You can hop, skip and jump around the trail, hiking random sections as the mood and opportunity hit you, rather than a linear approach.

Alligator
04-12-2010, 08:43
18. You get to pick the seasons.

Blue Jay
04-12-2010, 08:55
Sorry, but you can do all those things and thru at the same time. It costs more but completely possible:welcome.

Blue Jay
04-12-2010, 08:58
10. after accumulating some hundreds of miles, you eventually realize that section-hiking a little each year and seeing some of the blue blazes is a lot more fun than spending 180 grinding out white blaze miles day after day after day.

Except this one, no one should "grind".

elray
04-12-2010, 08:59
You can walk into towns from different directions, I like that.

Cookerhiker
04-12-2010, 10:22
18. You get to pick the seasons.

Redundant:cool:


9. You can pick the best time of year for each section and avoid the worst. For example, you can hike NJ & NY in April or May or October as opposed to the heat of mid-summer when the thrus hit those states.

Cookerhiker
04-12-2010, 10:23
You can hop, skip and jump around the trail, hiking random sections as the mood and opportunity hit you, rather than a linear approach.

Exactly! That's what I did.

Jonnycat
04-12-2010, 10:47
20. More time to be still and observe/encounter/experience wildlife.

wystiria
04-12-2010, 10:58
21. you can more easily carry fresh food and cook elaborate meals since resupplying happens at home and not in a trail town or via the PO

Short Term
04-12-2010, 11:29
15. You can section hike over many years, and still thru-hike once you retire.

I completely agree......

22. Also, less injuries.

emerald
04-12-2010, 16:28
It's an adventure that lasts a lifetime rather than an adventure of a lifetime which has been said before in other ways. I joined the list of 2000 milers in 1980 when I was 19.

Manwich
04-12-2010, 16:37
I stop enjoying the hike after day 4 or 5, depending on how terrible the weather has treated me (I guess I've just never had a week of sunshine) so I figure if I keep it down to week long trips at best, I'll never really stop enjoying it.

peakbagger
04-12-2010, 17:23
I really liked the opportunity to check out the surrounding countryside on either side of the trail corridor while spotting cars. Quite often when the trail was a relatively boring green tunnel up on the ridges, the surrounding areas were quite interesting. We stopped at a lot of local places for breakfast and supper that were outside of the range of normal thruhikers, where it was obvious that they didnt get a lot of visitors from "away".

We got to spend a couple of days wth Bob Peoples at Kincora mostly to ourselves one spring before thru hiker season.

I must admit the roads south of the smokies were a hoot, The Tail of the Dragon and some of the other regional roads were worth the trip on section hike.

pafarmboy
04-12-2010, 18:34
I must admit the roads south of the smokies were a hoot, The Tail of the Dragon and some of the other regional roads were worth the trip on section hike.

The Dragon Tail is the only road I've ever ridden on where I got car sick WHILE I WAS THE DRIVER! That road is truly a beast.

23) You always know you're gonna shed that "winter layer" of beef.

Hobbler
04-12-2010, 21:18
You can also avoid the crowds and the mass thru in a given area. If you want to get more solitude or avoid having the pressure of fighting for campsite or shelter space go off-peak.

Tinker
04-12-2010, 21:26
You can NOBO one section, then SOBO the next, weeks later.
BUT.....for me, the best part is that you can pick and choose the weather for your hike. It never has to be anything other than what you want it to be. Of course, adversity breeds character (or so I've heard :D).

Jeff
04-13-2010, 07:34
It's an adventure that lasts a lifetime rather than an adventure of a lifetime.

Nice quote!!!

Never thought of it that way before.

msujay
04-13-2010, 07:44
24) My pinkie toenails get just enough of a chance to kind of grow back before falling off again!

chief
04-13-2010, 11:19
25) You don't need to admit to past, failed thru-hike attempt(s). Just say you were section hiking.

MelNino
04-13-2010, 12:13
When I finally do get to do the AT, I will probably be a section hiker.....though lately I have been very tempted to just quit my job and hit the trail. But that is pretty normal thinking for me...

Darwin again
04-13-2010, 12:21
Sorry, but you can do all those things and thru at the same time. It costs more but completely possible:welcome.

As an aside, I'm pretty sure it's more expensive to section hike.

emerald
04-13-2010, 13:02
Nice quote!!!

Actually, I saw it first in my minds eye and wrote it here in response to the Adventure of a lifetime concept as I understood it when I wrote it. Section hiking and A.T. maintenance can be an adventure that lasts a lifetime and we need more people who see the A.T. that way if we are pass Benton MacKaye's dream on to the coming generations.

The memories of an A.T. through hike linger and are a possession which no one can take away, but it is better to be a steward than a consumer.

sherrill
04-13-2010, 15:10
You don't obsess over a section hiker patch.

emerald
04-13-2010, 15:32
Odd, since it's the same patch earned by through hikers.

stranger
04-14-2010, 00:11
Thru-hiking isn't for everyone, that's a major point. I've made two thru-hike attempts and decided to get off the trail both times, in almost the exact same spot both times - about 540-620 miles (Atkins, Pearisburg)

For me...and sorry, but I get bored after 500 miles. Besides, I've logged much more than 2175 miles along the AT anyway, despite never completing the trail, and it's all good. To piece the trail together solely to "finish" to me is absurd, that's box ticking.

I like to hike, I've been hiking for 25 years. I'm hiking again this year, I'm starting at Springer and will walk to.......and it's all good.

Thru-hiking is impressive at some level, but for me...I have way to many other things I care about that need focus in my life. I've accepted that, and not without regret at times. But the great thing is I keep hiking, and keep logging 500 mile hikes, that's all I care about.

Doing sections is great, but as for sectioning the trail, I don't know...there are far better places to hike than the AT - places like New Zealand, Australia, and certainly out west in the USA.

To each their own...and I absolutely love the AT, but at a certain level only. For me, that level is about 500-600 miles.

It's all good!

bigcranky
04-14-2010, 07:33
Howdy, Stranger,

Funny that you should mention hiking 500 miles at a stretch. Please don't take this the wrong way, but have you considered hiking another 500 miles starting in Atkins, and then another 500 starting in Harrisburg, and then the final 500 ending at Katahdin?

To me, your 500-miles-at-a-time method is the perfect way to section hike the whole trail. Hike a nice big chunk of trail, and be home before my wife forgets who I am....(or before I get bored, or need to get back to work, etc., etc.)

Happy trails.

wrongway_08
04-14-2010, 09:28
I liked doing the whole trail at one time. You got the whole trail life way of things and learned alot about the trail towns.

Now that its completed, section hiking is cool also, its like doing the trail all over - with all the benifits listed above.

The best part of doing sections is the P.O.F team. Usually its the same group but we get to hike with new people here and there. The people that live near the sections of trail usually know stuff about it that others don't. So its cool to learn the little "fun facts" about each section.

stranger
04-14-2010, 19:07
Big Cranky, yeah I've heard that before, and it probably makes sense if I was interested in completing the AT...but I'm not interested in completing the AT anymore. If anything, it would make much more sense to me to thru-hike 400-700 mile trails than complete the AT in sections...just my view.

I really like the south, so don't mind re-hiking it again, and I like hiking in spring before it gets too hot. Also, I don't like in the US, and obtaining leave during spring is easier than summer or fall for me.

So in a nutshell, I hike sections of the AT, but I'm not section hiking the AT to complete it. Kinda like going to your favorite restaurant and ordering what you know you like, happy trails.